Exercise equipment has been designed to facilitate a variety of exercise motions. For example, treadmills allow a person to walk or run in place; stepper machines allow a person to climb in place; bicycle machines allow a person to pedal in place; and other machines allow a person to skate and/or stride in place. Still another type of exercise equipment has been designed to facilitate generally elliptical exercise motion.
A variety of elliptical motion exercise machines have been disclosed in patents, including U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,622 to Swenson, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,242,343 and 5,383,829 to Miller. The Miller patents are the subject of a license with Precor Incorporated, a manufacturer of fitness equipment. Precor has essentially taken the position that these Miller patents (one of which was the subject of a reexamination proceeding) cover any elliptical motion machine that generates more heel rise than toe rise as a person's foot begins moving forward on the machine. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an elliptical motion exercise machine that guides a person's feet in a way that falls outside the “heel rise” language in the Miller claims.